Monday, September 30, 2013

Isn't it nice to be in paradise? "..And therein is whatever the souls desire and [what] delights the eyes, and you will abide therein eternally." (43:71)Allah promised fresh flowing streams, and rivers of milk, and honey, and wine.These were refreshing drinks for Arabs who lived in the desert.What if Qur'an came down during our time? In paradise there's everything that souls desire, so it is possible to have A whole river made out of CoolBlog *imagine swimming in milk tea, with 'pearls' floating around..and if you feel like it, you could munch on the pearls..sambil berenang kunyah bebola*

A river made out of iced milo.A river made out of 'carrot susu'! *gasp* *swoon*

look at me mom! Tak sia-sia pergi usrah lepas penat kerja*

*It wasn't for nothing that I went for usrah after a hard day's workBut this special reward is reserved for a special group of people."Is the description of
Paradise, which the righteous (muttaquun) are promised, wherein are rivers
of water unaltered, rivers of milk the taste of which never
changes, rivers of wine delicious to those who drink, and
rivers of purified honey, in which they will have from all
[kinds of] fruits and forgiveness from their Lord, like [that
of] those who abide eternally in the Fire and are given to
drink scalding water that will sever their intestines?" (Muhammad: 15)It is only for the muttaqeen (the people of taqwa), and they are indeed the rarest of the rare. Try and find their characteristics in the Qur'an, and try and emulate those characteristics.Having a CoolBlog stream is awesome, but drinking CoolBlog with the likes of Rasulullah, Abu Bakr, Umar and their righteous followers is definitely awesome-r.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Why did Allah open the surah of Al Buruj by swearing upon 'the skies that have stars/constellations'?

I don't know, and i have been wondering about it for some time. The rest of the surah does not touch upon astronomy. In fact, the surah tells the story of a group of believers who lived under a tyrannical king. This king gave them an ultimatum: Renounce islam, or jump into a fiery pit and die.

Imagine the terror they must have felt. In a hadeeth, Rasulullah told us of these people, and one of them was a mother carrying a baby. The mother must have been heartbroken, imagine throwing your own child into a blazing pit! But by the will of Allah, the baby spoke and told the mother that she was on the Truth. So she jumped in.

These believers were steadfast in the face of overwhelming force, and Allah honoured them. Their story will be recited until the Day of Judgment.

So back to those stars. What could they have in common with these believers?

Just think about it.

Fact #1: Stars were used since ancient times to navigate. Even today, navies and sailors are trained to read stars in case electronic equipments fail.

Fact #2: What we see is only light from the stars. Some of that light took millions and millions of years to reach Earth. So if you look at a star, you're seeing that star as it was 1 million years ago. The star might not even exist anymore.

Now do you understand why true believers are stars?

Like stars, the believers of the past navigate the believers of today. We gain strength from their firmness, we can face any hardship because we know they faced even worse trials.

And like stars, the light from these believers took a long time to reach us. And they no longer exist physically. But their spirit lives on, and their light continues to spark the flames of iman in the heart of every mu'min.

And never think of those
who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather,
they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision, (Ali Imran: 169)
Some stars might be very far-off, they might be alone in an unknown galaxy. They continuously shine even though they don't know where their light will reach or who will benefit from it.

The believers in surah Buruj might be called 'failures' in the worldly sense. They did not establish an islamic state. They did not defeat the king's army. All of them were burned alive.

But we do not measure success and failure according to worldly standards. In the end, Allah preserved their message of tauheed, praised their steadfastness and mentioned them in the Qur'an as guidance for the ummah of Muhammad. Being in the New York Times' headlines is awesome enough. Imagine being in the Qur'an, which never goes out of fashion.

So brothers and sisters, carry on your da'wah, struggle and persevere even though you feel like everything is going wrong.

Because someone, somewhere in a galaxy far far away might be needing that light.